National Socialism, Hydropower Extractivism, and Climate Change in the Austrian Alps, 1938-1945

• In Event: Renewable Energy? Socio-environmental Consequences of Hydropower Extraction in the Alps

Abstract

My goal in this paper is to consider the environmental impacts of a renewable energy source, hydropower, in a specific time and place: the Austrian Alps during the National Socialist period. From the late 1920s onwards, German utilities had eyed this hydropower “El Dorado” hungrily. With the rise of National Socialism, German economic planners believed Austria’s mountain hydropower was one of the keys to the country’s energy future. After Hitler’s annexation of Austria in 1938, the country’s Alps became a part of Greater Germany, and a rush to exploit the energy commenced. At the same time, Nazi engineers discussed the degree to which considerations of nature protection should mitigate their harnessing of Alpine hydropower. Interestingly, one question centered on how high to build dams in light of uncertainty surrounding future glacial growth. Based on an analysis of competing engineering projects, contemporary trade journals, provincial government records, and permitting negotiations, this paper seeks to shed light on the discourse over the appropriate extraction of hydropower, and the effects this ultimately had on the German energy supply and Alpine landscape. In so doing, I hope to reflect on the social and environmental “renewability” of Alpine hydropower and highlight a historical episode in which considerations of future climate change played a vital role.

Author

• Marc Landry, University of New Orleans